


It Must Be Witchcraft

by Willow_bird



Series: on the tip of my tongue (say something) [3]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andriel from outside perspective, Cuddling, F/M, Fluff, Is Katelyn a witch?, M/M, Missing Scene, POV Aaron Minyard, Walking in on your brother and his boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:53:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24866359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willow_bird/pseuds/Willow_bird
Summary: Aaron just wants to grab something from the other dorm room, but when he opens the door he finds Neil and Andrew in a... compromising position.This is pure fluff. I do not hold myself responsible for this disaster.
Relationships: Aaron Minyard & Andrew Minyard, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: on the tip of my tongue (say something) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782130
Comments: 60
Kudos: 760





	It Must Be Witchcraft

**Author's Note:**

> *This technically takes place on the Monday Neil and Andrew go to see Bee during 'say something', but can absolutely be read as a standalone. You do not have to have read say something to read this Aaron POV fluff bit.*
> 
> That being said, I hope you enjoy. :) Kudos and comments welcome. I do have one of those [tumblr things](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/kiirynilcc) but I warn you I have no idea how to use it. I hit buttons and sometimes when I double-tap on things a little heart floats up on the screen. Come say hi anyway!

Aaron fucking _hated_ Mondays. There was nothing good about a Monday. Ever. Mondays meant the end of the weekend. Mondays meant having to wake up at the ass-crack of fucking dawn (though at least he didn’t have to suffer Kevin’s obnoxious alarm anymore) to go to practice (he was aware that this was _every_ weekday, but Mondays were always worse because he _didn’t_ have to wake up early the previous two days and he could _feel_ the difference).

Worst of all, Mondays meant that he didn’t get to see Katelyn. At all. For the entire day. They barely got to text either, because Mondays kept her so busy between classes and double-practice and study groups and OUGODs. Aaron _hated_ OUGODs. 

**O** bligatory. **U** nplugged. **G** irls. **O** nly. **D** inners. 

OUGODs. They occurred every Monday from six-pm until Tuesday morning, with extra sinister SOUGODs ( **S** urprise **O** bligatory **U** nplugged **G** irls **O** nly **D** inners) that would spontaneously ruin his evenings here and there throughout the month. Aaron hated their existence with an utmost passion, but he did not let Katelyn know about his hatred. It was a secret hatred, and though he hated keeping secrets from his girlfriend this one he harbored for the greater good.

See, the OUGODs made Katelyn happy. She liked being able to turn off her phone, power down her computer, turn off the television, and kick back with her girlfriends once a week. He didn’t know what they did during that time (and he was pretty sure he didn’t _want_ to know).

((No, really. Natalie, Katelyn’s roommate, once made an offhand comment about a ritual or a summoning or something and he was _sure_ that she wasn’t joking. He knew deadpan humor. He knew dark humor. His twin brother was Andrew Minyard. He’d lived with Kevin Day for a fucking year. Neil Josten existed.))

(((This final point was proof that summonings and rituals worked. He was pretty sure Josten wasn’t completely human.)))

((((Also, Katelyn’s dorm smelled like sage at least once a month.))))

(((((Aaron knew what sage smelled like now. This was proof in its own.)))))

Anyway, the point was - today was Monday and that meant that there was no Katelyn. Not even Katelyn-texts. It had been a long fucking Monday, too. Of his three Monday classes, two had tests and in the third, the professor decided to give them a pop-fucking-quiz. He’d had to meet with the TA for one of his Thursday classes in order to discuss a project that was due next week, which meant that he’d missed out on most of his lunch break. Lunch was important to Aaron, and _not_ because it was his only time to actually _see_ Katelyn on Mondays. (It was a little bit because it was his only time to actually see Katelyn on Mondays.) Lunch was just essential. He needed to refuel. He was a college athlete. He was still growing. (He _was_.)

After dragging his way through an everlasting Monday from Hell, Aaron was looking forward to tonight’s practice. Time always passed quickly during practice, whether it was because of the constant activity or the constant drama, and he’d be able to burn off some of his restless energy that way as well. All the stress from those tests and the lingering anxiety from the pop quiz, the ever-present ache from missing Katelyn, the fiery resentment for the existence of OUGODs - all of it could blur and blend and bleed away on the court. 

See, he understood why his brother couldn’t stand exy, he really did - because if he was stuck in the goalie box the whole fucking time just _waiting_ for the game to come to him, he’d be bored out of his fucking mind, too. Drills were only fun if you knew you were working toward something. He worked hard to get his passes right and to improve his reflexes because when it came to game time he got to _be_ there, right in the fucking moment, but Andrew just had to… stand around. Aaron didn’t think his job was easy or anything, and he acknowledged how fucking good his twin was when he actually decided to apply himself - but he also understood why he didn’t bother. It was different for Aaron, though. Aaron got to move around on the court and stop arrogant asshole strikers from getting to the goal. In his more vindictive moments, he rather liked the idea that it was literally his job to make sure his brother stayed bored and resentful all game. When he was feeling more benevolent, he liked to think that he was stopping anyone from _bothering_ his brother. It was the same result, really, but Katelyn said it was all about the mindset. Aaron wasn’t sure he got it, but he tried his best. Mostly.

Luckily, Aaron had filled his own Mondays as much to the brim as possible to keep himself busy and he was only just getting back to the dorms. There was enough time for dinner, then maybe an hour of video games or homework before practice. When he got back he could finish any other homework he had before bed, and then Monday, finally, would be over. 

Nicky was already in his and Matt’s room when he got in and he lifted his head in a nod to his cousin. At this point, Nicky was over so much he might as well just move in - and Aaron really didn’t understand why he hadn’t. He and Matt got along great and nobody wanted to live with Kevin. 

“Hey, what’re you guys thinking for dinner?” Aaron asked as he dropped his backpack by his desk then moved to lean over the back of the couch to watch the game they were playing. 

“Uhano.” That ineloquence was Matt, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the screen, trying to finesse his way through some kind of tricky precision puzzle in the dungeon he was exploring.

“Helpful.” Aaron looked to Nicky, who was on his phone looking up the walkthrough for the level. “Nicky?”

“Oh! Uhm. Hang on. Matt, did you cast the earth spell before you entered the temple room?”

“What? No! You told me to case fire!”

“Noooo I said it had to be some kind of an elemental spell because of the squiggle-thingies! Squiggle-thingies always mean magic, Matthew.”

“Well, yeah, but then you said that they were _fire_ -squiggels.”

Aaron looked between the two of them, then at the game, and rolled his eyes as Matt died from an easily avoidable trap. “Well, now that you’ve both proved your mutual incompetence, can we get on with figuring out food? I’d like to eat before practice, thanks.”

Nicky wrinkled his nose and tilted his head back to look at him, though his expression smoothed to sympathy. “Monday, huh?”

His ears turned pink as he pushed away. “You know what. Nevermind. Nicky, gimme your keys, I’m heading to your room to grab the menu for Mushu’s. “

“Awww, little _cuuuuuz!_ It’s okay! You miss your lady-love! Straight love is love too, baby cousin, even if it’s grosser.”

Aaron was going to make Nicky’s face grosser with the addition of his fist through his teeth if he didn’t shut the fuck up. Fortunately for Nicky, Matt chimed in with an affable groan. “Nicky, be nice to the man.”

“I _am_ being nice!” He gave a dramatic sigh and a dramatic eye roll then dramatically flourished his keys (because Nicky couldn’t do _anything_ normally). “Okay okay but can you also grab my phone charger? Matty here only has that weird lighting plug thing because Apple has to be _extra_ about everything.”

Aaron blinked at his cousin. “I literally have no idea what you just said.”

“He isn’t wrong though,” Matt admitted with a shrug and a friendly grin. 

With a shake of his head, Aaron sighed and snagged the keys off Nicky’s finger before the excessive twirling made the things fly off and bean someone in the fucking eye. “Fine. Anything else? I’m not going back if you change your mind when I get back.”

“Nope! Thank!! You!! Aaron!!” Aaron pretended he couldn’t hear the extra exclamation points and headed for the door. A few seconds later he was unlocking the door to the room that Nicky shared with Andrew, Kevin, and Josten. He was already fully inside and had the door shut before he _saw it_. It. 

It was Andrew.

It was Josten.

They were on the couch. 

And…

And his brain couldn’t quite compute the rest. It was like there was some kind of server error and the receptors in his eyes were unable to communicate with the interpreters in his brain. He just… didn’t understand it, and the longer he stared the less it made sense.

It was Andrew. It was Josten. They were on the couch. These facts on their own weren’t particularly alarming. Andrew and Josten often sat on the couch. Andrew had his spot and the psycho little striker would either sit on the floor and lean against it or take the opposite corner. Sometimes if they were all crammed together for a movie night or something Josten would take the middle cushion but usually, he sat on the floor because he’d lived for eight years on the run and soft things like beds and couches didn’t make sense to him or something weird like that, Aaron tried not to keep track. 

This was. This was…

This was _not that_.

Andrew was laying on the couch and Neil was lying mostly on top of him, nudged between his legs. That should be alarming. It should be mentally scarring (and it still was, it _definitely_ still was, just in a different way) except that both of them were fully clothed and the knit rainbow throw blanket that Nicky had subjected the living room to since they moved in freshman year was draped over the both of them. Josten… was… sleeping. On Andrew. He was… _snuggled_ into Andrew’s chest and Aaron felt the distinct impulse to bleach his brain clean just for thinking the words “Josten” “snuggled” and “Andrew” together in the same sentence. 

Oh. _Fuck._ Josten was asleep, but Andrew sure as fuck was _not_. Aaron could not tell the difference between his heart and his spleen for a moment there, because the former had just plummeted that fucking far into his stomach as his eyes locked with his brother’s.

The cool, empty, bored expression he’d become so used to was _gone_ , replaced with a hot a vivid rage. Aaron held his breath, and he watched - in mixed awe and horror as Andrew shifted minutely where he lay, his arms coming up… to settled definitively around the sleeping striker. Neil made a small, soft sound and Andrew’s gaze broke away from Aaron’s to look down at him and it _changed_.

At this point, Aaron was sure he was back on drugs, but he was sure nothing he’d ever taken had ever given him hallucinations this fucking _wild_ before. The look on Andrew’s face was quiet, it was soft, it was… not _Andrew_. Yeah, okay, it wasn’t like he didn’t know that he and Neil were a thing. Andrew lost his shit last March when Neil went missing and turned up in Baltimore, and while at the time Aaron figured it had to do with some deal in combination with whatever weird murder pact they probably had together, _this_ was not the kind of relationship he ever would have pegged them having. Andrew didn’t cuddle. Neil didn’t _cuddle_ , and Andrew didn’t look at anyone or anything like _that_.

Like he was holding onto something infinitely precious. Like he was… blessed. 

Aaron recognized the sentiment in his expression because it was something he felt every single time that he looked at Katelyn. Or when her fingers carded gently through his hair as he rested with his head on her stomach on Sunday afternoons. Or when she smiled at him. Katelyn had the world’s best smile anyway, but Aaron noticed that there was a special smile she saved just for him. Like he added something to her life just by being there. Like he was something genuinely _good_ in her life that she felt lucky to have. 

His brother was looking at Neil Josten like that, and Aaron couldn’t just… _unsee_ it. He couldn’t fuck with it either. Aaron wasn’t superstitious (yes, yes he was actually) but there was something going on here that, if it were him and Katelyn he’d call sacred. This couldn’t be that, because if anything Neil Josten was part demon or something, but it was something _like_ that and he wasn’t going to disturb it. As quietly as he could, he took a step backward and reached for the door. 

Andrew was part fucking t-rex or something because movement drew his attention in a snap and Aaron froze again. He tried to mimic his brother’s _’do you have a fucking problem?’_ glare, but when Andrew only raised a brow at him he knew he’d caught onto it and was more amused than he was intimidated.

Fucker.

“Did you need something?” Andrew asked, and his voice was a quiet murmur, just loud enough to carry - but not a whisper either. It seemed, and this was blowing Aaron’s fucking mind, he was determined not to wake the sleeping striker.

“Uh..” Aaron winced and glanced to Josten when his voice came out way louder than he intended it. Andrew was back to glaring and it was far more effective than his own attempt had been. Jerk. Carefully, Aaron tried again and was able to affect a similar murmur. “I was just coming in to get the menu for Mushu’s. We’re ordering in…”

Andrew’s expression relaxed to a far more familiar expression of disinterest that would be more comforting if _Neil fucking Josten wasn’t sleeping on his chest like a fucking baby koala bear_. He nodded toward the kitchen. “You know where it is.” Then he lifted a hand and just stroked it through Josten’s hair, like that was a thing that he just _did_ , and turned his gaze back to the tv where he was watching… cooking shows? What in the actual fuck was going on here?

Aaron stood there, dumbstruck, for a full minute before shaking himself out of it and moving to the kitchen as quietly as he could. He grabbed the menu from the drawer, then snagged Nicky’s charger from the countertop - and thank fuck it was right there in the open because otherwise he would have completely forgotten about it. When he got back to the door he paused for a moment and looked back over his shoulder. Andrew seemed to sense his gaze and turned to look at him.

There was a long, uncomfortable moment, and then Aaron said, “I won’t tell Nicky.”

Andrew blinked, then his expression shifted slightly. It wasn’t a big change Aaron knew Andrew’s face very, very well. It was the smallest softening. Then his twin nodded before he turned back to the tv.

Aaron pretended not to see the way the other man bowed his head and brushed his nose over the sleeping striker’s hair, and he definitely left before he could even _think_ he saw him kiss him on the top of his head. He made his escape as swiftly and quietly as he could, locking the door behind him. Then, before he even got back to his room, he texted Kevin to invite him to eat with them in their room. He didn’t overthink the decision, he just went with it. 

“There you are! I was afraid Andrew stabbed you or something!” Nicky called with a grin as Aaron reentered the room. There must have been something in his expression because Nicky frowned in concern. “Hey, he didn’t right? I thought you guys were getting along a lot better…”

“Ah, yeah. I mean no. He didn’t stab me. We just chatted for a minute.”

Nicky looked like he didn’t believe him so Aaron shoved his charger at him. “Kevin’s coming too. Order enough for all of us.”

Matt looked over, a bit bewildered. Because Aaron never invited Kevin to anything if he could avoid it. Nicky looked similarly bemused and looked toward the door like he wanted to go back down to his room to see what had happened. Scrambling, unsure why he was so desperate to keep what he’d seen private, he blurted out, “Look, I miss Katelyn okay? Let’s all just hang out and eat dinner. Then we can head to practice together.”

This had the intended effect. Nicky crooned and sighed and giggled, and Matt came over and put a hand on his shoulder in solidarity - because apparently they were ‘Lovesick-Hetero-Puppies-in-arms (Nicky’s words, but Matt nodded in agreement?). Kevin came over without complaint and was actually tolerable to be around as they played some video games and ate dinner before heading down to practice.

When practice did roll around, Aaron couldn’t help himself - he studied his brother and Josten. They looked normal (well, normal for them). They weren’t being gooey or anything. They were just… them. Except there were sometimes, and it happened so fast that Aaron was half sure he was seeing things, that he thought he saw the shadow of that look on one of their faces as they looked at each other. It was so subtle that Aaron would have missed it if he hadn’t been watching them all practice, if he hadn’t been looking _for_ it, and because of that he was almost able to convince himself that he was making the whole thing up. 

Except that at the very end of the night, after they all drove back to the Tower, Aaron looked back toward the car - where Neil and Andrew had hung back. They were leaning against the car and neither appeared to be talking but they were close enough to touch and even in the dark, Aaron could see that their hands were entwined. 

Aaron turned away before he accidentally witnessed any more than he already had, hurrying up to the dorms. As he was laying in bed that night he pulled out his phone and texted Katelyn, knowing that she wouldn’t get it until the next morning.

_Hey baby I hope you’re having a good night. Just wanted to tell you that I love you. I can’t wait to see you. I just had the weirdest fucking day._


End file.
